Tray filling and leveling mechanism



' G. H. NUSS AND C. F. HECKEL. R. NUSS, axzcumx or s. a. NUSS, DEC'DI.

TRAY FILLING AND LEVELING MECHANISM. APPLICAUON FILED JULY 19,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

2 6? W j K Ptented Jan. 31,1922.

G. H. NUSS AND C F. HECKEL.

I. R. NUSS. axecunux OF G. n. Nuss. D'ECD.

TRAY FILLING A-ND LEVELING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I9, [920- Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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Pics. 4

W WATTOHNEY ii? UNITED STAT GEORGE H. Nnss, or CINCINNATI, onto,enjfonanLns3. 13 3 1 EW R KE T CKY; sABEn t. uss noU-rsrx or earnsnorteng. Muss, DECEASED TRAY Fr ra e A D EvELINe meanest 1Q mes es.

To all whome't may concern:

Be it known that we, Gnonen Nnss and CHARLES F. HnoKnL, citizens of. theUnited States, and residents, respectively, o'f Cin cinnati, in thecounty of Hamilton and State of Ohio, and of Newport, in the county ofCampbell and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and. usefulImprove-- ments in Tray Filling and Leveling Meohanism,'of which thefollowing is aspeci-H fication.

Our invention relates to mechanisms.

which are particularly-adapted to fill thetrays which are. used in themaking ofcertain mold shaped candies. and which trays are filled withstarch in which the candy] shapes are impressed before the molding'Heretofore in the filling of traysnvith starch or other finely dividedmaterial inwhich the. candies-are molded, theicorners of the tray havebeen 'left. vacant or the starch filled therein in unevenly compactedfareas. 1 25;

7 An object finely .divided material, in a manner such that the fillingwill be eompactand uniform, with no vacant or unfilled portions lefttherein. I V I v j This and other'objects are attained in the filling:and leveling mechanism described in the following specification andillustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmental plan view of a filling and leveling mechanismembodying our invention. mounted within a tray conveyor trough'withinwhich are tracks for carrying the trays;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the V mechanism shown in Fig. 1,without the enclosing trough, but showing the cooperation of the levelerwith the tracks upon. which the'trays slide in their passage through theI trough, the filler and leveler being shown in inoperative position;

Fig. 3 is 'a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the position assumed bythe filler and leveler upon engagement therewith of a tray which hasbeen heaped with material ready for the leveling and corner fillingoperation of our mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing of our invention istherefore to. produce a mechanism which Wlll operateto fill trays withany powdered or otherwise Specification Letters'P atenti PatentedlJanQSL1922..

- Application filed 31113119, 1920.. Serial No. 397,561.

this. plate being mounted for transverse re ciprocata'ion with relationto the -t1 -oughsides 7 and and within curved guide brackets 9,. and 10. attachedto the respective sides. An arm 11 is attachedtothe back or?thefplate 6 and; eXtendsrearwa-rdly for at tachment by means of a ball12 to a socket 13 .at the end offa rod 14 which is recipro caCedKforfOperating the filler and leveleri On the front"sideof=plate6 a pairofwings I 15 and 16ers providedfthe lower edges--' of the wingsbeingcurvedasshown. 'The cumulation of the-starchor other material uponwhich the filler andlleveler is"operat-" brackets' '9. and lO are openat their sides next to the sides of the-trough so" as to pro vide spaces1? and 18. Thi'sfprevehts the ae ing,: within the brackets sof'that theplate.

is freeito reciprocate without clogging its movement z' In the operationof our invention, "the filler and leveler plate 6*is in the positionshown in Fig.2, resting onthe bottoms of I the brackets; A tray, whichhas been heaped-- ptlking and with the material tobe leveledyis thenpmsented .to' the filler and leveler whilethe pushed over the tracks,the Wings 15 and 16 are engaged by the forward edge of the tray, causingthe plate to lift because of i the curved formation of the lower edgesof the wings, as shownin Fig. 2.

plate .is being reciprocated; As the tray is w This results in the platebeing lifted to ride ontop of the tray asits movement. over thetracksiscontinued, as shown in Fig.4.

Inthis movement of the tray the reciprocation of the plate causes itswings 15 and 16 to push the material into the unfilledoorners and sidesof the tray, thus perform-L- ing the filling operation. At the sametime,

when the. tray has completed itspassage beneath the plate, its entiresurface has been scraped level and the edges and corners thereof filledin. After having passed from beneath the tray the plate willautomatically drop to the bottoms of its mounting brackets in positionto repeat its operation upon presentation thereto of another tray.Incase the trays are being passed along the tracksrapidly, they willpush each other and the plate will ride over the continuous surfaceformed by the abutting tops of the trays.

It'will thus be seen that in our invention there is accomplished theuniform filling and leveling of each tray without having any intersticesor vacant places and without having any unevenly compacted portions ofthe material within the tray.

The trays for use in starch-bucl s are of varying heights and thesetrays of varying heights are used indiscriminately. The heels orsupports of the trays wear. or chip off so that one side of the tray isoften higher than the other. 7

An advantage of our invention is that the curved wings 15 and 16 willautomatically 'ride up onto the starchtrays of varying heights, andanother advantage is that the leveler will automatically adapt itself tothe varying irregularities of surface of the tray, as for instance, ifone side .of the tray should be higher than the other the leveler willautomatically adapt itself to the tray and a level the starch just thesame as if the tray passed beneath the leveler in a perfectly horizontalposition. Having thus described our invention what we claim is: V i- 1'1. A tray filling and leveling mechanism comprising a plate having aplurality of wings thereon, means mounting the plate for automaticmovement substantially vertical and transverse either simultaneously orsuccessively with relation to a tray passing beneath it, said wingshaving a curved edge for lifting the leveler upon engagement of a filledtray therewith, and means adapted to vibrate the leveler transversely ofthe tray,

whereby the wing will push the heaped material in the tray into thecorners and edges and whereby the surplus material will be scraped fromthe surface of the tray by the plate.

3. A trayfilling and leveling mechanism comprising a plate, automaticmeans mounting the plate for substantial vertical and transversemovement either simultaneously or separately with relation to a traypassing beneath it, andmeans adapted to vibratev the plate transverselyof the tray for pushing the material into unoccupied spaces and forscraping surplus material from the surface of the tray.

4: A tray. filling and leveling mechanism comprising avertically'disposed, trans-' verscly curved plate, a vertically disposedwing on the front side of said plate near the end thereof and having itslower surface on a level with the lower end of said plate and curvedforwardly and upwardlytherefrom, and means adapted to vibrate said platetransversely of the tray for spreading the material into unoccupiedspaces, and for scraping surplus material from the surface of the traywhereby said leveler is adapted to automatically move both laterally andvertically, substantially as set forth and for the purposes specified.GEORGE H. NUSS.

' CHARLES 'F. HECKEL.

